Dead Shuffle
by Calico Yorki
Summary: On all counts, she shouldn't have survived. But she did. A two-part story. UPDATE: Now complete. ... OHMIGODTHISISTHEFIRSTSTORYI'VEEVERCOMPLETED /flail
1. Chapter 1

Sometimes, we encounter things that make us wonder if life is real. Often are those moments that make us deny reality and try to escape the facts. The cold, hard facts. Death, sadness, the loss of love. But then, there are the far rarer kinds of events that make us question existence. The days that are so wonderful, when we finally realize that it was real, we desperately wish we had spent more time cherishing them.

As a girl's fragmented memories of her two best friends dying resurfaced, along with the memories of that one boy who had made her happy to be alive again, tears welled up at the realization that she might never see him again. When she realized that she wasn't giving any thought to her dead companions, the tears streamed in full force. It was all over. Why couldn't she have been allowed to die? She knew that there was less than a one percent chance of anyone surviving that kind of ship explosion long enough for a passing ship to pick them up. Now, she was alive, and nothing more. It would have been better to die than to live with the thought of being worlds apart from the boy she loved.

Distantly, she heard voices murmuring above her. She could care less. If this was going to be the rest of her life, then she'd do all in her power to end it quickly. There was nothing left for her at all in this world. The Seven would never take her back if she was too injured to fight, and had lost her prized ship and co-pilots. Oh God, she could still hear them screaming. At worst, Hazanko would make a point of killing her for her weakness. She was just about to let out a choked cry of despair, when it broke through.

A voice she recognized. A voice that was different from the others. A voice that was quietly assured despite her own slim chances of survival. This voice felt like it was calling out to her, somehow. Just hearing that voice made her feel...Optimistic. Desperately, the girl's hand raised up. It took all of her strength to raise her small, pale hand, crisscrossed by scars like just about her entire body. Voices hushed in shock and awe. Then, a rough hand, giant by comparison, wrapped its fingers gently around the tiny digits.

The girl could dimly see through her swollen, bruised eyelids that someone kneeled down beside her. As she began to calm at the familiar smell that surrounded this man, the earthy scent of garden soil overlaid by the faintest sulphurous tinge of gunpowder, the blood stopped pounding in her ears. She could hear him speaking to her. "...Kid? Kid, do you hear me? Hanmyo? Hanmyo?" Her hand went limp. It nearly ripped her heart to shreds for that name to come up now. "Ayaka?" She jumped. If there was a single doubt as to who this man was, that name spoken now obliderated it.

She'd not heard that name since her family had been killed before her. When she'd first heard her cats' voices. When she'd stolen an experimental ship, taught herself to pilot it in a fortnight, and gone after the pirates who had destroyed her life so as to end theirs in penance. Only one man knew her name now, and he was supposed to have died fighting the very group of people she'd suffered in combat against. Her lips parted in a tremulous cry. She forced out a series of inarticulated grunts and mewls, crying like she'd never cried before, until she could at last manage the name: "L...Lei...Long..."

Another hand laid over hers. "It's okay, kid," he said quietly as the doctors all chattered to each other. For all intents and purposes, they could have been miles away. "I'm here. The rest of the Seven didn't make it through. Hazanko bit the dust." A somber chuckle. "Good riddance, I know." Leilong fell silent as he gently held the tiny, fragile hand. His touch imparted all the care of someone handling a porcelain doll - And judging from what she had come away from, he was wise to treat "Hanmyo" Ayaka as if she could crumble under just a little more force than would be necessary.

For several excruciatingly drawn-out minutes, Leilong held Ayaka's hand in his own and never once thought of letting go. Coming close astride death had finally let this girl be free of the Anten Seven, like himself. She deserved a chance to live a happy life, without being made the tool of some bastard who was too blinded by greed and ambition to see how precious human life was. This girl had a right to a second chance, a fresh start, and Leilong would be damned if he didn't do all in his power to get her there. It was at that moment that he remembered what it was like to want to give one person everything in the Universe..._I guess this is why Starwind is alive today,_ he thought with a wry smile.

This went on for hours and hours on end. Leilong felt hunger gnawing at his stomach, but he was no stranger to ignoring those kinds of sensations for the sake of a mission. Ayaka's face was bruised and scratched beyond all belief, and her left eye had a surgical eyepatch over it. The doctors had said she might never see out of that eye again; they had also said that she would have to spend over a year in a wheelchair to promote the safest possible recovery. To Leilong, it was a more than worthy exchange for the girl having a new lease on life.

With the head doctor's consent, Leilong set up a little training area in an adjacent, unused lounge. He found this absolutely necessary to dispel his nervous energy. Every blow that connected with the wooden practice dummy vented just a little bit more of Leilong's anxiety, and it wasn't long before he was able to wipe the sweat from his brow and return to Ayaka's side. She immediately gave a quavering moan, just as he'd done when he told her he had to leave for a little bit, and groped for his hand.

Gently taking her hand in his grasp as he'd done before, Leilong tried to comfort her. But how do you comfort a girl who's lost everything for the second time in her life? Leilong honestly didn't know whether anything he was doing could be of actual help to Ayaka, now. That was until the corners of her mouth twitched upwards at his description of the Outlaw Star's crew.

Particularly the small, sandy-haired boy who'd been so close to Gene Starwind.


	2. Chapter 2

Leilong had truly, truly feared for his life few times in all his years.

Even when buried alive, he had not felt too worried. He'd gotten to the point where death just didn't seem like the worst outcome of a mission. It was thus a surprise to him that a possibly imminent death had him in cold sweats. Not his own, mind. He'd once been in traction with no morphine available, and had found his meditation training under Hazanko to be damn useful, much as he detested the bastard.

But here was the girl he had only called Ayaka now and the first day they'd met - Using the name 'Hanmyo' to refer to her for years - Laying before him in a hospital bed, her once smiling face now bruised and cut, eyes swollen so badly she couldn't likely see him, tubes snaking their way into her nostrils and mouth. And that scared him in a way that was indescribable. She had always been so strong for her age. She wouldn't take any of Hamushi's doting - She wanted to earn everything by her own merit. Iraga had found the girl to be an excellent sparring partner, her preference of felines over canines notwithstanding. Tobigera and Hitoriga had both gotten a rude awakening from their delusions that she could be pressured into tackling bottom-of-the-barrel missions for them.

As for Jukai...Well, how to describe Jukai? He was an obtuse old coot who likely only got along with Hazanko on account of them both being older than the Great Space Age. All the same, Jukai and the youngest of the Seven had gotten along swimmingly. She would hold a book for him to read, he would use his abilities to help her reach high places; and wasn't that just the most bizarre casually mutual display of kinship that Leilong had seen in his life? Jukai's tendency to talk in recursive riddles made him more or less an obstreperous asshole to work with on cooperative missions, which made Leilong so happy he possessed such mastery and prestige that Hazanko trusted him to pick any mission to go solo.

What Leilong found odd about this little moment was that he had, admittedly, been the most infuriatingly aloof for Ayaka to deal with. He didn't insult or demean her - He just was rarely ever on the Geomancer, preferring to take a new mission as soon as he'd finished another. Not to mention the time he did interact with Ayaka was hardly friendly. Though he wasn't a malicious prick like Tobigera or Hitoriga, not by a long shot, he couldn't have exactly inspired great affections in the girl. Rather, he tended to be so detached and far-removed as to stir up feelings of distrust in others close to him.

Now, however, it was only the two of them left. Two masters of combat, bereft of a place to call home in all of creation. However many niches there were left in the Universe for such masterful killers, Leilong did not want that for this girl. He wanted her to do whatever she wanted to do. If she could find a way to keep fighting, if that was what she wished, then they could live as a pair of outlaws and mercenaries for the rest of their days. But never again would Leilong allow anyone to force Ayaka to do anything she didn't wish. If that meant hanging up his guns and not using them any longer, then Leilong would be all too happy to take a lasting reprieve from the fire and flames of combat.

What he could not give her, however, was her family. This girl had lost everything and everyone she loved, not once, but twice - It had always left a bad taste in Leilong's mouth that she had been swayed to joining the Kei Pirates while still so emotionally crushed by her family's death at the hand of rival space pirates. Now, she had lost those cats. The two cats who had been her rock, her brother and sister, mother and father, and the sun and the moon in her life. Leilong didn't know how one went about communing with beasts, but he knew that no child so young deserved to lose that. There was only one thing he could imagine to help her. It was a longshot, but he honestly didn't care by this point. Anything that could help Ayaka recover was worth it in his book.

Now, it was simply a matter of helping her along in her recovery. Once she was off the intravenous equipment and was in stable condition, Ayaka was able to speak with a certain degree of calm. What broke Leilong's heart most was how much she talked about her cats. She was so strong, and Leilong didn't even bother telling her how proud he was of her. There would not be enough breath in his body to tell this girl how brave and strong she was. All he could do was be there for her as she went through therapy. Mental trauma was all but completely nonexistent, and she recovered surprisingly fast - Enough that she could speak perfectly, articulate her hands fully, and to the doctors' shock and delight, she was able to wiggle her toes on her first try.

Every day, Leilong would be fresh produce and meat from the nearby market and cook it in the hospital's cafeteria - They certainly weren't going to try to stop Hazanko's Ace, the demise of said Kei Pirate elder notwithstanding. Years of survival and making do with what he had left Leilong with, in his opinion, a keen appreciation for how to cook using just about any ingredients. He didn't want to take a chance on something too spicy or acidic, nor anything that could upset her stomach in any way, so he mainly cooked beef, noodles, and vegetables in various combinations.

Ayaka was all-too appreciative of the care. It was nice to know that she was willing to accept Leilong's help when she needed it now, most of all. Soon enough, she was even able to take to the wheelchair - She wouldn't abide by anyone but Leilong pushing her, and he certainly had the stamina and the desire to take her anywhere she wanted to go; show her anything she wanted to see, now that her surviving eye had recovered from its bruising. It was on their fourth or fifth outing that Leilong wordlessly revealed his gift.

At first, Ayaka could only stare in disbelief at the ball of fuzz in her lap. Then, as its short, bushy little tail twitched madly, it mewled and looked up at her. Happily kneading its paws on her stomach, it continued to mewl and purr happily. Ayaka could only cry tears of joy, barely managing to cry her thanks over and over again. Ignoring every staring or smiling face to pass them by, Leilong knelt down and hugged her around the shoulder.

"I know he won't replace Kemi or Matei," he said in a quiet voice, "But I hope that he'll give you someone else to talk to besides a beat-up ol' man like me on our way to the Heifong region." Tears still swimming in her eyes, Ayaka looked up at him, confused. "You didn't think I wasn't going to thank the outlaws that gave us a way to find a new life, did you?"

The sheer delight that lit up Ayaka's face was worth more than a planet made of dragonite. It would take a few months of odd jobs, nothing dangerous like assassination, to get the money needed to buy a combat-ready ship for a safe journey. Of course, they made sure Ayaka didn't rush her recovery.

But as soon as the doctors said she was safe, she wouldn't stop fidgeting with her new kitten until they were out into space. Leilong gave a bright grin. Life was worth living again.

"Computer, set a course for the Heifong System."


End file.
